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In a recent Financial Times article a reader asked writer Lucy Kellaway whether it matters if his sales people speak with “decent” grammar. Her answer is full of good sense: of course it matters!
But what about a seriously cockney, strong regional or non-English accents? Do these matter? Perfectly intelligent and effective people may have accents that never the less do terrible things to the English language. We all have our prejudices and accents may certainly be one of them.
As a professional the impact you make on people depends on a variety of factors and accents, grammar and use of language are certainly part of the equation. So how much does it matter whether you say things like “We was hoping you’d do that” or like Eliza Doolittle in My air Lady, your language sounds as if it’s been through some kind of audio shredder?
Frankly, it probably does not matter nearly as much as some people like to think. But while you may be able to get away with murderous grammar or an atrocious accent inside an organisation, outside it can be entirely different.
If you interact with customers, clients or people in high level roles, then “speaking well” certainly does count and can work against you if the sort of impression you make causes you come across as uneducated, coarse less than genuine, or simply hard to understand.
For example, “What’s happened to David Miliband’s voice?” asked voice coach Luan de Burgh in the Guardian during the 2008 Labour conference a while back, “he sounds like Rory Bremner doing Tony Blair.”
Thankfully we are a long way from the era when everyone was expected to sound like a BBC radio announcer speaking so-called “King’s English” while wearing a dinner jacket and bow tie.
But if there is a secret to creating a powerful impact that is, making the most of your Charisma Effect, it is be yourself. In the end that may count more than your crazy accent, dismal grammar, or fractured English.
What’s your view on this?
Andrew Leigh is author of The Charisma Effect, published by Pearson Educatation
www.maynardleigh.co.uk
